Stonewall, on the questions of bow draw weight and length every archer will give you a different answer. If you shoot a 75lb compound you should also be able to shoot a 75lb self bow, but you will need to learn the art of coming onto aim as you complete the draw, so that you draw and shoot in one continuous motion. In 1545 Roger Ascham wrote "Holding should be brief, the sooner perceived in a man's mind than seen when 'tis done." Prolonged holding will put a wooden bow in danger of breaking. Target archers will tell you that 75lb is way too high, warbow archers will say that it is way too low. Ignore them all and shoot what seems right for you. It's better to go high rather than low on draw weight; it's easy to take a bow down in weight to get to what suits you.
With regard to bow length, it depends to some extent on what you are going to use the bow for. For steadiness of shooting, the longer the better, but anything longer than about 76 inches would be very clumsy to take round the woods. If you want to hunt from tree stands or hides then you might want something very much shorter.
Good luck and best wishes with your project.
